Soft body armor is often worn by law enforcement personnel to protect against the ballistic impact of projectiles such as bullets. Soft body armor is generally made with flexible ballistic fabric woven from ballistic fibers. To form the breast cups for female chest plates made using fabric, the material is stitched to form “darts” or wedge-shaped folds of fabric that are stitched in a triangular pattern. Multiple darts may be required to form the breast cups meaning that multiple lines of stitching may be stacked on top of each other, especially near the center or apex of each breast cup where the stitching lines converge.
Therefore, a need exists for a chest armor panel for female body armor vests wherein the breast cups of the armor plate are specially layered so that any stitching lines are offset from each other and covered by intermediary layers of non-stitched ballistic fabric to enhance the performance of the vest.
The relevant prior art includes the following references:
Pat. No.Issue/(U.S. Patent References)InventorPublication Date5,020,157DyerJun. 4, 19916,281,149Hussein et al.Aug. 28, 20015,943,694Moureaux et al.Aug. 31, 19994,578,821ZufleApr. 1, 19868,980,773Chiou et al.Mar. 17, 20154,183,097MellianJan. 15, 19807,739,753JankowskiJun. 22, 2010